Sam Phillips Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! {{Short description|American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer (1923–2003)}} {{other people||Sam Phillips (disambiguation)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Sam Phillips | image = Sam Phillips.jpg | landscape = yes | background = non_performing_personnel | birth_name = Samuel Cornelius Phillips | birth_date = {{birth date|1923|01|05}} | birth_place = [[Florence, Alabama]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2003|07|30|1923|01|05}} | death_place = [[Memphis, Tennessee]], U.S. | genre = {{hlist|[[Rock and roll]]|[[rockabilly]]|[[R&B]]|[[country music|country]]|[[blues music|blues]]|[[Pop music|pop]]|[[jazz]]|[[Soul music|soul]]|[[doo wop]]|[[boogie woogie]]}} | occupation = {{hlist|Disc jockey|songwriter|record producer}} | years_active = 1945–2003 |website = | label = {{hlist|[[Phillips International Records|Phillips International]]|[[Sun Records|Sun]]}} | associated_acts = {{hlist|[[Elvis Presley]]|[[Johnny Cash]]|[[Carl Perkins]]|[[Jerry Lee Lewis]]|[[Howlin' Wolf]]}} }} '''Samuel Cornelius Phillips''' (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003)<ref name="Scotty">{{Cite web|url=http://www.scottymoore.net/sam.html|title=Sam Phillips|website=Scottymoore.net|access-date=October 4, 2021}}</ref> was an American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer. He was the founder of [[Sun Records]] and [[Sun Studio]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], where he produced recordings by [[Elvis Presley]], [[Roy Orbison]], [[Jerry Lee Lewis]], [[Carl Perkins]], [[Johnny Cash]], and [[Howlin' Wolf]]. Phillips played a major role in the development of [[rock and roll]] during the 1950s, launching the career of Presley. In 1969, he sold Sun to [[Shelby Singleton]]. Phillips was the owner and operator of radio stations in Memphis; Florence, Alabama; and [[Lake Worth Beach, Florida]]. He was also an early investor in the [[Holiday Inn]] chain of hotels and an advocate for racial equality, helping to break down racial barriers in the [[music industry]]. ==Early life== Phillips was the youngest of eight children, born on a 200-acre farm near [[Florence, Alabama]] to Madge Ella ({{nee}} Lovelace) and Charles Tucker Phillips.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anb.org/articles/18/18-03875.html|title=Phillips, Sam|last=Bertrand|first=Michael T.|work=[[American National Biography]]|date=April 2014|access-date=October 22, 2016}}</ref> Sam's parents owned their farm, though it was mortgaged.<ref>{{cite census | url = https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MX8J-6N9| title = Charles Phillips | year = 1920 | location = Oakland, Lauderdale, Alabama, United States | roll = 27 | page = 68 | line = 28 | enumdist = 22 | filmnum = 1820027 | nafilm = T625 | access-date = March 10, 2019}}</ref> As a child, he picked [[cotton]] in the fields with his parents alongside black laborers.{{sfn|Palmer|1982|p=218}} The experience of hearing black laborers singing in the fields left a big impression on the young Phillips.<ref name="obit-August 1, 2003">{{cite news|title=Sam Phillips Obituary|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article854378.ece|access-date=October 6, 2011|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=August 1, 2003}}</ref> Traveling through Memphis with his family in 1939 on the way to see a preacher in Dallas, he slipped off to look at [[Beale Street]], at the time the heart of the city's music scene. "I just fell totally in love," he later recalled.<ref name=telegraph-1-8-2003>{{cite news|title=Sam Phillips|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1437680/Sam-Phillips.html|access-date=October 6, 2011|newspaper=[[Daily Telegraph]]|date=August 1, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022090958/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1437680/Sam-Phillips.html|archive-date=October 22, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Phillips attended the now defunct Coffee High School in Florence. He conducted the school band and had ambitions to be a criminal [[Defense (legal)|defense]] [[attorney at law|attorney]]. However, his father was bankrupt by the [[Great Depression]] and died in 1941, forcing Phillips to leave high school to look after his mother and aunt. To support the family he worked in a [[grocery store]] and then a [[funeral parlor]].{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} In 1942, Sam, 19, met Rebecca "Becky" Burns, 17, his future wife, while they were both working at WLAY radio station in [[Sheffield, Alabama]]. He was an announcer and she was still in high school and had a radio segment with her sister as 'The Kitchen Sisters' where they played music and sang. A January 18, 2013, article in the Alabama Chanin Journal honoring Becky quoted Sam as saying, "I fell in love with Becky's voice even before I met her." Becky described her first encounter with Sam to journalist Peter Guralnick: "He had just come in out of the rain. His hair was windblown and full of raindrops. He wore sandals and a smile unlike any I had ever seen. He sat down on the piano bench and began to talk to me. I told my family that night that I had met the man I wanted to marry." They wed in 1943 and went on to have two children in a marriage that ended in 1960. Becky Phillips died in 2012, aged 87.<ref name=telegraph-1-8-2003 /><ref name=Laing-8-1-2003>{{cite news|last=Laing|first=David|title=Obituary: Sam Phillips|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/aug/01/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|access-date=October 6, 2011|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=August 1, 2003}}</ref><ref name=Dewitt-1994>{{cite book|last=DeWitt|first=Howard A.|title=Elvis: The Sun Years|year=1994|publisher=Popular Culture Ink|isbn=1-56075-020-0}}</ref> ==The Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records== [[File:SunStudioSamPhillipsAvenue.JPG|thumb|left|200px|Sun Studio, 706 Union Avenue, Memphis]] In the 1940s, Phillips worked as a [[DJ]] and [[radio engineer]] for station [[WLAY (AM)]], in [[Muscle Shoals, Alabama]]. According to Phillips, the station's "open format" (of broadcasting music by white and black musicians alike) would later inspire his work in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]]. Beginning in 1945, he worked for four years as an announcer and sound engineer for radio station [[WREC]], in Memphis. [[File:Demo record produced at Memphis Recording and Sound Service, Eunice Irby composer and performer.jpg|thumb|78 demo record from Sam Phillips studio in Memphis]]On January 3, 1950, Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service, at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis.{{sfn|Palmer|1982|p=219}} He let amateurs record, which drew performers such as [[B.B. King]],{{sfn|Palmer|1982|p=220}} [[Junior Parker]], and [[Howlin' Wolf]],{{sfn|Palmer|1982|p=234}} who made their first recordings there. Phillips then sold the recordings to larger labels. Phillips recorded what the music historian [[Peter Guralnick]] considered the [[first rock and roll record]]: "[[Rocket 88]]", by [[Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats]], a band led by the 19-year-old [[Ike Turner]], who also wrote the song.{{sfn|Palmer|1982|p=222}}<ref>Guralnick, Peter (2015). ''Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll.'' New York: Little, Brown. {{ISBN|978-0-316-04274-1}}.</ref> The recording was released in 1951 by [[Chess Records]] in Chicago. From 1950 to 1954 Phillips recorded music by [[James Cotton]], [[Rufus Thomas]], [[Rosco Gordon]], [[Little Milton]], [[Bobby Blue Bland]], the [[The Prisonaires|Prisonaires]] and others.{{sfn|Palmer|1982|p=225}} The Memphis Recording Service also served as the studio for Phillips's own label, [[Sun Records|Sun Record Company]], which he launched in 1952. Sun Records produced more rock-and-roll records than any other record label of its time during its 16-year run, producing 226 singles.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/sam-phillips |title=Sam Phillips: Inducted in 1986. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum |publisher=Rockhall.com |date=April 15, 2013 |access-date=September 8, 2015}}</ref> Phillips recorded different styles of music, but he was interested in the blues: "The blues, it got people—black and white—to think about life, how difficult, yet also how good it can be. They would sing about it; they would pray about it; they would preach about it. This is how they relieved the burden of what existed day in and day out."<ref>Olsen, Eric P. "Founding Father: Sam Philips and the Birth of Rock and Roll." ''The World and I''. Washington, May 2001. p. 76.</ref> In addition to musical performances, Phillips recorded events such as weddings and funerals, selling the recordings. ==Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison== Phillips and [[Elvis Presley]] opened a new form of music. Phillips said of Presley: "Elvis cut a ballad, which was just excellent. I could tell you, both Elvis and [[Roy Orbison]] could tear a ballad to pieces. But I said to myself, 'You can't do that, Sam.' If I had released a ballad I don't think you would have heard of Elvis Presley."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Founding Father: Sam Phillips and the Birth of Rock and Roll|last=Olsen|first=Eric P.|journal=[[The World and I]]|date=May 2001|location=Washington|page=76}}</ref> Phillips stated of his goals, "everyone knew that I was just a struggling cat down here trying to develop new and different artists, and get some freedom in music, and tap some resources and people that weren't being tapped."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Rockabilly Legends: They Called It Rockabilly Long Before They Called It Rock and Roll|last1=Naylor|first1=Jerry|author-link=Jerry Naylor|last2=Halliday|first2=Steve|page=22:00|no-pp=yes|isbn=978-1-4234-2042-2|year=2007|publisher=Hal Leonard }}</ref> He didn't care about mistakes; he cared about the feel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/11/23/457083328/the-man-and-the-mistakes-that-invented-rock|title=The Man and the Mistakes That 'Invented Rock 'n' Roll'|publisher=[[NPR]]|date=November 23, 2015|access-date=October 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920005735/http://www.npr.org/2015/11/23/457083328/the-man-and-the-mistakes-that-invented-rock-n-roll|archive-date=September 20, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Phillips met Presley through the mediation of his longtime collaborator at the Memphis Recording Service, [[Marion Keisker]], who was already a well-known Memphis radio personality. On July 18, 1953, the eighteen-year-old Presley dropped into the studio to record an acetate for his mother's birthday; Keisker thought she heard some talent in the young truck driver's voice, and so she turned on the tape recorder. Later, she played it for Phillips, who gradually, with Keisker's encouragement, warmed to the idea of recording Elvis.<ref>{{cite book|title=Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley|url=https://archive.org/details/lasttraintomemph00gura_0|url-access=registration|last=Guralnick|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Guralnick|publisher=[[Little, Brown]]|year=1994|location=Boston|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lasttraintomemph00gura_0/page/59 59–62]|isbn=9780316332200}}</ref> Presley, who recorded his version of [[Arthur Crudup|Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup]]'s "[[That's All Right]]" at Phillips's studio, became highly successful, first in Memphis, then throughout the southern United States. He auditioned for Phillips in 1954, but it was not until he sang "That's All Right (Mama)" that Phillips was impressed. He brought the song to [[Dewey Phillips]], a [[disc jockey]] at [[WHBQ (AM)|WHBQ]] 560, to play on his ''Red, Hot & Blue'' program. For the first six months, the flip side, "[[Blue Moon of Kentucky]]", Presley's upbeat version of a [[Bill Monroe]] bluegrass song, was slightly more popular than "That's All Right (Mama)". While still not known outside the South, Presley's singles and regional success became a drawing card for Sun Records, as singing hopefuls soon arrived from all over the region. Singers such as [[Sonny Burgess]] ("[[My Bucket's Got a Hole in It]]"), [[Charlie Rich]], [[Junior Parker]], and [[Billy Lee Riley]] recorded for Sun with some success, and others, such as [[Jerry Lee Lewis]], [[BB King]], [[Johnny Cash]], [[Roy Orbison]], and [[Carl Perkins]], became stars.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/elvis-presley-how-sun-records-boss-sam-phillips-discovered-a-star-in-1954-a6713891.html|title=Elvis Presley: How Sun Records Boss Sam Phillips Discovered a Star in 1954|last=Guralnick|first=Peter|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=October 30, 2015|access-date=October 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031112033/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/elvis-presley-how-sun-records-boss-sam-phillips-discovered-a-star-in-1954-a6713891.html|archive-date=October 31, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Phillips's pivotal role in the early days of rock and roll was exemplified by a celebrated jam session on December 4, 1956, with what became known as the [[Million Dollar Quartet]]. Jerry Lee Lewis was playing piano for a Carl Perkins recording session at Phillips's studio. When Elvis Presley walked in unexpectedly, [[Johnny Cash]] was called into the studio by Phillips, leading to an impromptu session featuring the four musicians. Phillips challenged the four to achieve gold record sales, offering a free Cadillac to the first, which Carl Perkins won. The contest is commemorated in a song by the [[Carl Perkins' Cadillac|Drive-By Truckers]]. By the mid-1960s, Phillips rarely recorded. He built a satellite studio and opened radio stations, but the studio declined, and he sold Sun Records to [[Shelby Singleton]] in 1969. In 1977 Sam's sons, Knox and Jerry, were working with [[John Prine]] at the Phillips Recording Studio when Sam Phillips joined them to oversee recordings that were eventually included on the album ''[[Pink Cadillac (album)|Pink Cadillac]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/23/archives/pink-cadillaca-rite-of-passage.html?_r=0|title='Pink Cadillac' — A Rite of Passage|first=Robert|last=Palmer|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 23, 1979 |access-date=October 6, 2018}}</ref> ==WHER== Phillips launched radio station [[WHER (defunct)|WHER]] on October 29, 1955. Each of the young women who auditioned for the station assumed there would only be one female announcer position, as was the case with other stations at that time. Only a few days before the first broadcast did they learn of the all-female format. It was the first all-female radio station in the United States, as almost every position at the station was held by a woman.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/programs/lnfsound/stories/991029.stories.html |title=Lost and Found Sound: The Stories |publisher=NPR |access-date=September 8, 2015}}</ref> ==Other business interests== Through shrewd investments, Phillips amassed a fortune. He was one of the first investors<ref>{{cite news|author1=Martin, Douglas |title=Sam Phillips, Who Discovered Elvis Presley, Dies at 80|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/01/arts/sam-phillips-who-discovered-elvis-presley-dies-at-80.html|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=April 25, 2017|date=August 1, 2003}}</ref> in [[Holiday Inn]], a motel chain that was about to expand to a nationwide franchise; he became involved with the chain shortly after selling Elvis Presley's contract to [[RCA Records|RCA]], for $35,000, which he multiplied many times over the years with Holiday Inn. He also created two subsidiary recording labels, [[Phillips International Records]] and [[Holiday Inn Records]]. He also owned the Sun Studio Café in Memphis. One location was in the [[Mall of Memphis]].{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} Phillips and his family founded Big River Broadcasting Corporation, which owns and operates several radio stations in the [[Florence, Alabama]] area, including [[WQLT-FM]], [[WSBM]], and [[WXFL]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |title=Ownership Report for Commercial Broadcast Stations (BOA-19991130ABY) |url=http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=100556196&formid=323&fac_num=5272 |date=December 10, 1999}}</ref> He also established radio station WLIZ in [[Lake Worth, Florida]] in 1959.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} ==Accolades== In 1986, Phillips was part of the first group inducted into the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]], and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the [[Rockabilly Hall of Fame]]. He was the first non-performer inducted. In 1987, he was inducted into the [[Alabama Music Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Alabama Music Hall of Fame|title=Sam Phillips inductee page|url=http://www.alamhof.org/inductees/timeline/1987/sam-phillips|access-date=April 18, 2016|archive-date=April 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422203749/http://www.alamhof.org/inductees/timeline/1987/sam-phillips|url-status=dead}}</ref> He received a [[Grammy Trustees Award]]<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The Recording Academy|title=Grammy Trustees Award list page|url=https://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/trustee-awards|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002091150/https://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/trustee-awards|archive-date=October 2, 2015}}</ref> for lifetime achievement in 1991. In 1998, he was inducted into the [[Blues Hall of Fame]],<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Blues Foundation|title=Inductee search page|url=http://blues.org/awards-search/?cat=hof|access-date=April 18, 2016|archive-date=May 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505123942/http://blues.org/awards-search/?cat=hof|url-status=dead}}</ref> in October 2001 he was inducted into the [[Country Music Hall of Fame]],<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Country Music Hall of Fame|title=Sam Phillips inductee page|url=http://countrymusichalloffame.org/Inductees/InducteeDetail/sam-phillips|access-date=April 18, 2016|archive-date=June 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621194004/https://countrymusichalloffame.org/Inductees/InducteeDetail/sam-phillips|url-status=dead}}</ref> and in 2012 he was inducted into the inaugural class of the [[Memphis Music Hall of Fame]]. ==Later years and death== Phillips died of [[respiratory failure]], aged 80, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, on July 30, 2003,<ref name="Scotty"/> only one day before the original [[Sun Studio]] was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]]. Phillips is interred in the [[Memorial Park Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)|Memorial Park Cemetery]] in Memphis.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} ==Notable portrayals== *[[Paul Eiding]] played the role of Phillips in the ''[[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|Twilight Zone]]'' episode "[[The Once and Future King (The Twilight Zone)|The Once and Future King]]".<ref>{{cite web |website=IMDb|title=The Once and Future King full cast & crew|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734699/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast}}</ref> *[[Trey Wilson]] portrayed Phillips in ''[[Great Balls of Fire! (film)|Great Balls of Fire!]]'', a biopic about [[Jerry Lee Lewis]] released in June 1989. *Phillips was portrayed by [[Gregory Itzin]] in the penultimate ''[[Quantum Leap (1989 TV series)|Quantum Leap]]'' episode, "Memphis Melody".<ref>{{cite web|title=Memphis Melody cast|url=http://www.tv.com/shows/quantum-leap/memphis-melody-60574/cast/|website=Quantum Leap TV.com|access-date=November 12, 2016|archive-date=August 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807185534/http://www.tv.com/shows/quantum-leap/memphis-melody-60574/cast/|url-status=dead}}</ref> *Phillips was portrayed by [[Dallas Roberts]] in the film ''[[Walk the Line]]''.<ref>{{cite web|website=IMDb|title=Walk the Line full cast & crew|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358273/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ql_1}}</ref> *Phillips was portrayed by [[Tim Guinee]] in the [[CBS]] miniseries ''[[Elvis (miniseries)|Elvis]]''.<ref>{{cite web |website=IMDb|title=Elvis full cast & crew|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437714/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast}}</ref> *On October 21, 2016, it was announced that [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] will portray Sam Phillips in the forthcoming film based on [[Peter Guralnick]]'s book, ''Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2016/10/leonardo-dicaprio-sam-phillips-sun-studio-movie-1201840489/|title=Leonardo DiCaprio To Play Music Pioneer Sam Phillips; Launched Elvis, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny Cash & Jerry Lee Lewis|last=Fleming|first=Mike Jr.|date=October 21, 2016|work=Deadline Hollywood}}</ref> *Phillips was portrayed by [[Chad Michael Murray]] in the [[CMT (U.S. TV channel)|CMT]] drama series ''[[Sun Records (TV series)|Sun Records]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5583410/fullcredits|title=Sun Records (TV Series 2017–2018) |website=IMDb|access-date=October 4, 2021}}</ref> *Philips was portrayed by [[Josh McConville]] in the 2022 Elvis Presley biopic ''[[Elvis (2022 film)|Elvis]].'' ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Bibliography== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100715152543/http://www.holidayinnrecords.com/ Foster, D. Wayne. retrieved from 2008 audio interview recording] * {{cite book |last=Guterman |first=Jimmy |year=1998 |chapter=Sam Phillips |title=The Encyclopedia of Country Music |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00coun |url-access=registration |editor=Paul Kingsbury|location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00coun/page/414 414]|isbn=978-0-19-511671-7 }} * {{cite journal |last=Olsen |first=Eric P. |title=Founding Father: Sam Phillips and the Birth of Rock and Roll |journal=The World and I |date=May 2001 |volume=79 |via=ProQuest}} * {{cite book |author-link=Robert Palmer (American writer) |first=Robert |last=Palmer |date=1982 |title=Deep Blues |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-0-14-006223-6}} * [http://pop.greenwood.com/document.aspx?id=GR0032-3491 Talevski, Nick. "Sam Phillips". ''The Unofficial Encyclopedia of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame'']{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Pop Culture Universe. ABC-CLIO. October 22, 2009. ==External links== * [http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_A1D6F6793F7B444AB6D5FACC0B50C5A1 Interview with Sam Phillips for WGBH Public Television series "Rock and Roll: Renegades"] *[http://www.sunstudio.com Sun Studio official website] *[http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/articles_samphillips.shtml Interview with Sam Phillips] *[http://rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=166 Rock Hall of Fame] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100325183507/http://www.elvispresleynews.com/SamPhillips.html Elvis Presley at Sun Studio] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070813041358/http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/inductees.aspx?cid=152 Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum] *{{find a Grave|7724504}} *{{IMDb name|680769}} {{Navboxes | title = Awards for Sam Phillips | list = {{2000s Country Music Hall of Fame}} {{Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album 1980s}} {{1986 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame}} }} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Sam}} [[Category:1923 births]] [[Category:2003 deaths]] [[Category:Deaths from respiratory failure]] [[Category:Record producers from Alabama]] [[Category:American country singer-songwriters]] [[Category:American music industry executives]] [[Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees]] [[Category:Musicians from Florence, Alabama]] [[Category:Sun Records]] [[Category:Grammy Award winners]] [[Category:Holiday Inn people]] [[Category:20th-century American singer-songwriters]] [[Category:Rock and roll musicians]] [[Category:Country musicians from Alabama]] [[Category:Burials at Memorial Park Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)]] [[Category:Singer-songwriters from Alabama]] [[Category:American radio company founders]] [[Category:American audio engineers]] Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Templates used on this page: Sam Phillips (edit) Template:Authority control (edit) Template:Catalog lookup link (edit) Template:Citation needed (edit) Template:Cite book (edit) Template:Cite census (edit) Template:Cite journal (edit) Template:Cite news (edit) Template:Cite web (edit) Template:Dead link (edit) Template:EditAtWikidata (edit) Template:Find a Grave (edit) Template:Fix (edit) Template:IMDb name (edit) Template:ISBN (edit) Template:Infobox musical artist (edit) Template:Main other (edit) Template:Navboxes (edit) Template:Nee (edit) Template:Other people (edit) Template:PAGENAMEBASE (edit) Template:Reflist (edit) Template:Reflist/styles.css (edit) Template:Sfn (edit) Template:Short description (edit) Template:Trim (edit) Template:Use mdy dates (edit) Template:Yesno-no (edit) Template:Yesno-yes (edit) Module:Arguments (edit) Module:Catalog lookup link (edit) Module:Check for unknown parameters (edit) Module:Check isxn (edit) Module:Citation/CS1 (edit) Module:Citation/CS1/COinS (edit) Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration (edit) Module:Citation/CS1/Date validation (edit) Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers (edit) Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities (edit) Module:Citation/CS1/Whitelist (edit) Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css (edit) Module:Footnotes (edit) Module:Footnotes/anchor id list (edit) Module:Footnotes/anchor id list/data (edit) Module:Footnotes/whitelist (edit) Module:String (edit) Module:String2 (view source) Module:Unsubst (edit) Module:Ustring (view source) Discuss this page